Native to Greece, the Hippocampus is a beast with the head and forequarters of a horse, and the tail and hindquarters of a giant fish, making it somewhat similar in appearance to an over-sized seahorse. Although it is generally found in the Mediterranean, a blue roan specimen was caught by Merpeople off the coast of Scotland in 1949 and domesticated.

Hippocampus lay large, semi-transparent eggs through which the young hippocampus, known as a Tadfoal, can be seen.

Etymology

The Hippocamp or Hippocampus, like many creatures in the Harry Potter series, is derived from Greek mythology. A Hippocampus-like creature can be seen in the painting "The Chariot of Poseidon" .[1]

Hippocampus also refers to a major component of the brains of humans and other mammals. It is what enables the conscious short term memory, and was famously removed from Henry Molaison, when a doctor suspected that removing it would cure his epilepsy. [2]